August 6, 2018
A infant boy, who was burned after falling into a fire pit in Northland, remains in a stable condition in hospital.
The toddler and his family were at a rural property in Pouto Rd, south of Dargaville, on Sunday when he fell into the open fire pit - causing several burns to his body.
St John Ambulance, Fire and Emergency and Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter were called to the farm just before 2pm.
The boy was "understandably distressed", said Auckland Rescue Helicopter pilot James Tayler.
"When we arrived the child was in the house with his family and they had put cold water on his burns - was a good thing to do."
Tayler said he had fallen into the pit, which was a couple metres wide and about a meter deep, and was being used to burn household rubbish.
Paramedics gave the boy pain relief and loaded him into the chopper with his mother.
"He was quite calm in the helicopter, which is quite a common thing with kids, he was just cuddled up with mum," Tayler said.
"He had burns to several areas on his body, most of which weren't too bad but one was quite deep, which is why we took him to the burns unit."
He was taken to the National Burns Centre at Middlemore Hospital, in south Auckland, where he stayed overnight.
